Morning posts continue, seeds are here!

 Same weather as yesterday, dry as a popcorn fart and no breeze to speak of. Might even have to turn on the AC today. The promised seeds from my friend Laurie arrived with the corrected postage, good grief.

So much potential for the next year! I wish I had more beds to plant! Not sure if all of them will be used in the coming seasons but will give it a shot. I definitely wanted jalapeños and a different tomato variety for the summer. 

Echinacea, 'Thornburn's Terra-Cotta' tomato which is a huge slicer tomato, 'Spoon' mini pea sized tomato, 'Rober' heirloom cauliflower from Poland, Snow peas, Jalapeños (yay!), 'California Wonder' bell pepper, 'Marketmore 76' cucumber which unfortunately is a vine type, 'Sweet Aroma' tomato which is a larger variety of Roma so same growth habit but more meaty, and then the 'Early Multiflora' sweet peas that are also heirloom. Very similar to the ones I previously got from the library.

Plans are; sweet peas first, soaking now after nicking them which I didn't do at all for the library ones and a good indicator that this is a necessary step. Only have four peat pellets to use for those since I was a ninny and used six for the Burgundy onions. I don't have much more room than that anyway on the trellis. Those will get planted tomorrow in the pellets and then plant them in the 4" containers and then in the bed for a little insurance against bugs in the soil. Snow peas are going to be for the spring, maybe interplant with the sweet peas as they will be finishing up by then I suspect. 75-85 days to mature, that's a lonng time even for peas. So if I plant now they'll be flowering sometime around Christmas and into January hopefully. 

But then, when do I start the tomatoes that need the trellis? Or the cucumber? The Thorburn's (the actual name of the man who grew it in 1893 was James Thornburn) tomato is 'semi determinate' so that will need the trellis, and the roma types are both indeterminate but do best with some support. 

Sigh. So many seeds so little room! I love it!

Then there's the Echinacea. Definitely ornamental, pollinator attractor but where to put just a few? I know how big the plants get, I've seen them in the nursery so they need a bit of room. 

I actually did get out to the garden last night and this morning.

I was going to use the watering can to just hit the small pots and I know I filled it yesterday but it was empty this morning with no signs of leakage on the soil. I filled it up and there it was.... so much for a watering can for the garden. 

I noticed the tomato was looking really yellow and know I had watered that well. I dug into the soil and it was dry. Very dry. I decided to just yank it. Couldn't get down to the actual tuber but dug out as much of that stem as possible.  If it comes up again it comes up but not this year. The other potato is green and lush that I planted recently. 

 The soil was very dry all through that area. It had some moisture at the surface but for the most part it was very dry. I got the hose out and did a thorough soaking.

My hand is holding the hose a good two feet from the nozzle, pressure was that strong to hold it straight. I wanted to get water down deep. I think I'm going to start a couple or three cauliflowers to put in that bed. I haven't forgotten about the carrots or lettuce but am giving up on the radishes, they just haven't performed at all.

I didn't even cover up the open area last night because it was very wet. Nothing seemed to have disturbed it this morning. Going to shift the cover over since I don't have the potato there anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I moved all the pots into the shade again given the weather and then cut about half the orange zinnia flowers and a few purples  to take upstairs. Also made sure to shade the cilantro.

Very odd fuzz under the leaf of a zinnia stem, on closer inspection it looks like possible beetle eggs that hatched so I pulled those leaves off and rubbed it really well before tossing it.

The zinnias all fit in my little vase (the pictures look a little blurry to me hope they aren't for everyone else). The blue lid in the background is actually covering the tiny dish with the sweet pea seeds in them because first, cat. Second it will keep the water from evaporating too quickly. I want to know how someone safely 'nicks' a tiny sweet pea seed without crushing the seed or cutting your fingers. I managed to do it without any injury and then remembered that using sandpaper or a nail file to thin the seed cover was another way but still. These seeds are smaller than the snow peas and difficult to hold. I got it done and they're in water so it's all good.

Genie, I have my three wishes!